Honda Develops New Front Airbag Technology

Honda has announced the development of a new passenger front airbag technology which has been designed to better protect occupants in a wide range of frontal collision scenarios, including angled crashes between vehicles or a vehicle and another object. The Japanese car maker plans to begin applying its airbag design to new products in the United States in 2020. The development and testing of the new airbag was led by engineers at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. in Ohio in partnership with Autoliv, one of the company's safety systems suppliers.

The new design is based on Honda's commitment to developing technologies that better protect vehicle occupants in a wide range of crash scenarios. It is particularly beneficial in angled frontal impacts in which lateral collision forces can cause an occupant's head to rotate severely or slide off the airbag, increasing the chance of serious injury.

The development and testing of the new airbag was led by engineers at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. in Ohio in partnership with Autoliv

Jim Keller, President of Honda R&D Americas, Inc, said, "This new airbag technology represents Honda's continuing effort to advance safety performance in a wider variety of crash scenarios and reflects the innovative thinking that our engineers are bringing to the challenge of reducing traffic injuries and fatalities."

Operating something like a baseball catcher's mitt and cradles and protects the head

Unlike conventional airbag systems that rely on a single inflatable compartment, the new system utilises four major components: three inflated compartments - a center chamber and two outward-projecting side chambers that create a wide base across the dash - along with a sail panel that stretches between the two side chambers at their outermost edge. Operating something like a baseball catcher's mitt, the sail panel catches and decelerates the occupant's head while also engaging the side chambers, pulling them inward to cradle and protect the head, mitigating the potential for injury.

It is particularly beneficial in angled frontal impacts in which lateral collision forces can cause an occupant's head

Honda also is working to develop and deploy advanced passive safety and active safety systems that can reduce the severity of a collision or help avoid it entirely. In addition to passive safety systems such as airbags, seatbelts and advanced crash safety structures like the company's Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure, Honda is aggressively deploying its Honda Sensing and AcuraWatch suites of safety and driver-assistive systems. The company has committed to making this broad suite of technologies standard on nearly all of its vehicles by 2022.